Find and Kill
by the Goddaughter
Summary: Ever wonder why Rose's family's last name is Hathaway? Hath - Old English - has. Rose "has a way". To do what? To live? To die? To love? To save? To... Kill? Please review! That wasn't a threat.
1. The Cabin

* * *

Breathe, I tell myself. Breathe and you will live. I run a little faster. I duck under a branch. My shirt tears a little as it gets caught on a twig. But I do not care. I do not care about anything. Except for Dimitri's soul.

I do not love him any more, I tell myself. He is no longer the man I loved. He is gone. What is left of him is his body. Anyone can find his body. But only I can find his soul.

When I find his soul, I will keep it safe. I will keep it and hug it and kiss it and never let it go again. It seems immoral to keep a soul from its resting place. But I will eat it, swallow it, capture it in a jar if I have to. I will never lose it ever again. Dimitri's soul. Soul.

I can feel the dark of the night coming. I don't have to look up at the sky, if there is one. The canopy of trees is too thick. The air is getting thicker and denser as I enter deep into the forest. The grove. The woods. It is now so dark that I can feel the shadows creeping on me. I almost collide with a tree.

Suddenly, I feel a hand grabbing behind me. Panicking, I only scramble faster - away from something, or to something? I do not know. Nor do I care. I do not care about anything anymore. Not my family, not my friends, not my life, not my soul. Only Dimitri's soul. The hand releases me. Only then do I realize it was a branch. The branches and poison ivy, grasping hold of me, tearing my shirt.

By now my shirt is almost nothing. I do not care. I have another one underneathe. I do not _need_ to care. I don't have a need. I have a way. _Hathaway._ Hath is has, in Old English. But what do I have a way for or to?

I stop. I feel dizzy to stop so suddenly after running for three and a half days. I drop to the ground. Not in exhaustion. But in relief. I have found a cabin. I do not know if it has Strigoi in it. Or humans. Or dhampirs or whatever. I do not care. If there are Strigoi, they will die. If there are humans, I will find refuge amongst them. If there are Moroi or people of my kind, I will run. Away. Keep running.

One could only hope they were humans. I start walking. I come to the door and it opens before I can do anything. There is a Strigoi holding a young female human by the neck. Her neck is severely damaged. By damaged, I mean ripped out. The Strigoi does not seem to notice me, which I thought was rather strange. I step up to him and notice he was blind. I kill him with my half broken stake.

The girl screams when she sees me. I must have looked a sight. I look at her and open my mouth to speak. Only to be interrupted by another scream. I roll my eyes and let out a sigh. I then realize she was not screaming from fright. It was from pain. She is almost tearing her hair out. I feel I have to kill her. To save her. So I do.

I say sorry to her.

I venture to the cabin, closing the door behind me. I do not know why. I hear a noise. I look around and see a cat. I nick a piece of bread from the dining table. I hear another noise. Muffled, scared. From inside the cupboard. I step slowly to the cupboard. The floorboard creaks. The moans get louder.

What could I say to calm the person (s) down? "I come in peace"?

I open the door to find a twenty or so year old man, gagged, tied wrists and ankles to a broomstick and practically catches him as he falls toward me, like in a comedy. I pocket the remaining pieces of stake and use a pocket knife to cut the ropes. As I bring out the blade, the man panics and edges away from me.

I squat down, almost eye level to him. "So what do you want me to do, then?" I pocket my blade. The man stops attempting to run away.

"Hi, I'm Rose," I say conversationally, extending my hand. He flinches. "Oh, sorry. I forgot. You can't shake my hand. Because they're tied to a broomstick!"

He flinches at every emphasis I made on the syllables of "tied to a broomstick."

He is slowly realizing I am here to help. When I get up behind him, he no longer tries to escape. I slide my knife between his hands and almost cut him. I slice the ropes. As soon as his hands are free, they go up to his face, palms facing me, defence-like. As I turn away to find more food, he lowers his defence and takes off his gag. After that, he does not talk. He claws off the ropes tying his feet to the broom.

He stands up, wobbles and steadies himself on the wall. He turns to me.

All that while, I have my back turned to him. But I have been trained to notice every detail happening everywhere.

He growls.

Like a wolf.

And slowly morphs into one.

A big and hairy one.

* * *


	2. The Canine

Sorry the grammar might be a bit weird because I am writing in present tense... Present tense sounds more intense because it's happening right now and past tense tells you that "I" am alright, and "I" am retelling the story...

* * *

"Ooh. Nice doggy." I say sarcastically. I try not to show my nerves as I stare at the animal. I do not think it helps, since animals can smell your fear and uncertainty.

As if on cue, the wolf sits down and begins to scratch his shoulder with his hind leg like any old dog might. I watch him suspiciously. After about two minutes of grooming, he stands up, circles around and heads towards a door. I had not noticed it before. I start to follow him, but as I traced but one step, he stops and growls a warning. His head turns a fraction as if glancing at me. I stop right there and make no further movement.

He disappears behind the door and I turn to sit down. I stand back up and notice a tap in the kitchen space, and rinse my hands. For a brief moment, I let the small stream of water dribble down through my cold fingers. I splash my face with the freezing element of life and spin around when I hear a noise. The wolf is back.

He trots up to me, panting like an eager puppy. Except he is not.

"What are you?" I say half to him, half to myself. Maybe a bit of my question directs to Dimitri.

He sticks his tongue out in response. A line of saliva drips to the floorboards. I hear a sizzle and stares down at the ground. His saliva has burnt a hole in the wood. By the time my mind starts working again, I feel a warm, (friendly?) and wet tongue lapping at my knee. To my horror, the liquid starts to eat a hole through my worn jeans. My knee is grazing and soon it is bleeding. I stare at the wolf in utter astonishment.

I want to ask, "How did you manage that?"

All of the sudden, I realize the wolf is trying to kill me, the "easiest" way possible. Also the slowest.

I try to wake up from my frozen state, but it is too late. I can only use my elbows to prevent me from breaking my back as the wolf tackles me. He claws at me, at my throat and continues to burn away my skin. My brain cannot find even one way of defense. When he starts to lick my face, I feel my skin dissolving. Finally, my body begins to realize I can move.

I grope around blindly and found a chair. I grab the wooden leg and try to pry the wolf away from me. Useless, I think stupidly. What is wrong with me? I ball up my fist and punch the wolf's snout.

He stops for only a moment but a moment is all I need. My other hand has found my pocket knife and I shove it as hard as I can into his hairy chest. He staggers back in a human like movement and grabs the hilt. He is slowly turning back into a human.

For the first time this morning, I feel the pain. Not of my torn face or my bleeding body. It is the terror in his eyes. His brown eyes are darting around wildly, as if searching for any spare bits of life he could grasp in the air. He comically plops down on the wooden chair, coughs up some blood, and dies.

I feel mean.

Now I feel the physical pain. I touch my face gingerly with a single finger and quickly put it down again. I walk curiously to a room and find a bed with an en suite. I enter the bathroom. I stare at my reflection off the mirror.

I see a horrible, bloody, patched face; any trace of what I used to look like cannot be found. Frankenstein comes to mind. The second thought is, "What will Dimitri think? He always used to say, 'My _beautiful_ Roza.' I am beautiful no more."

Then I remember. It does not matter. He is no longer alive; no longer existent. He can no longer think, let alone see my wretched excuse for a face. I let the thought go.

I think to the wolf/man. Who is... was... he? What was he? Was he related to the girl? Why was he tied up? Who tied him up? The Strigoi?

As I wonder about him, I hear a whimper. I whip around and see a cardboard box moving. I look around me before I walk up to it. I recall the wolf coming into this room before going to kill me.

I look into the box.

And see a baby wolf.


	3. The Cub

A million thoughts flood my mind. A baby wolf. Can you imagine that? I start to wonder if it also is a werewolf; where it came from; if it is going to eat me... What do I do with it? If I just leave it there, I will be taking yet another "innocent" life. But, I say to myself, if I had not gone into this room, it will have died anyway.

But I did go into this room.

I have to do something about it, I decide. Something, as in help. I look at it. It stares back at me with big green eyes. Okay, I underestimated its age. It is about a half a dog year old, now that I look at it fully. Six human years.

It hops out of the box and flashes; it is male.

I gag.

I flinch back as he yawns, showing his yellow teeth. He dribbles. I recoil as the saliva drips, but thankfully enough, it does not sizzle anything. He starts to explore the bed by scratching the sheets, pulling the covers, dragging his blunt fangs through the pillow and trying to eat the feathers. He bounces around, rolls everywhere and finally begins to accept the concept of a bed.

While he was doing that, I just stare. My insides are beginning to melt. I watch him for another while, and start to speak.

"Um... Hi, little wolf." He keeps playing.

I inch towards the edge of the bed, hinting my need or want to sit. I smooth the blanket with my bloodcaked hand and still he does not (seem to) notice. I sit down softly. I hold my breath. Nothing new happens. I sigh, letting out my breath and wonder when he will notice me. I watch him rush around with a need to release his newfound energy from after a nap. He bumps into my arm.

"Ouch," I yelp.

He doesn't care. He seems to find it amusing. He headbutts me again.

When I don't react, he looks up at me expectantly and I falter. "Um... Ouch?"

All of the sudden, he is human(-looking); he is a boy of about five or six, and his is on his back, hand on his belly, laughing. I stand up, afraid. He ceases his giggling fit and his young face grows serious. He sits up.

"Where're you going?" he asks.

"I... um," I look around, "I'm going to the bathroom," I say for an excuse. I step backwards to the toilet, watching him watching me.

"Okay," he shrugs. "Hey, have you seen my uncle?"

I freeze. "Who's your uncle?"

"Well, he isn't really my uncle, he just adopted me and I didn't want to call his dad so I called him uncle and he seems fine with that." He says as if that answers my question.

"...No?" I try uncertainly.

"Okay," he shrugs again. Silence.

"Aren't you going to pee?" he asks. Oh yeah. Damn.

"No..." I reply, "what makes you think I need to pee?"

"I thought you said so," he says, looking at me weirdly. He changes the subject. "Why is your face like that? Did my uncle do that? 'Cause he did this to me by sneezing," he rushed on, pulling up his sleeve to reveal a burn scar.

"I... No. I burnt it a few days ago," I lie.

"Are your hands okay?" he says.

I look at them myself. They are about the same quality as my face. "Yeah, they're alright." I say. My head starts to hurt and I see flashes of light. I wobble and steady myself on the wall.

"Are _you_ okay?" the kid asks, his voice sounding faint and distant.

I grab my head with both hands and slide down the wall to sit on the ground. "Yeah, don't worry about me." My own voice is in another world. I close my eyes.

*Flash*

I am flying. Not really. I am in the sky, looking down. There are buildings. There is a still, calm lake. There are seagulls, herrons and other waterbirds. There is a small rowboat, with a man in it. I zoom closer. The man looks up, seemingly at me.

"Hah! It works!" He shouts triumphantly. It is Adrian.

"A... Adrian?" I stammer.

"I knew it! I knew I could do it! Hah!" He shouts again, slapping his knee with his hand. He looks up at me and winks.

"What'd you do?"

"I got into your head on purpose; without you sleeping!" He shouts. He winks again.

Why isn't he freaking out at my face?

"Adrian, do I look normal?"

"You never do."

"No! I mean, do I look like the Rose, who... who... er, before I left?"

His eyes travel around my body. "Yeah. Still the same. Lost a bit of weight, maybe."

"Wh... What about my face?" This was getting weird.

"Still the same." he confirms.

After a pause, he says, "What I 'came' to tell you was, since I know that you're looking for Belikov, that I found him, no, saw him at the train station somewhere... You know, the one right next to the mall. He was leaving it; seems like he came back from somewhere."

I stare at him with friendship love. But I change my mind. I am not looking for his body, I remind myself. "Train station... Mall... W... Was he... Strigoi?" I blurt out.

Adrian stares. "I didn't see." He replies matter-of-factly. He is starting to fade. He also notices.

"I... um... thanks. Thanks lots, Adrian."

"Yeah. Love you." With that, he winks once more and is sucked out of my brain.

*"Reality"*

I gasp. Breathe, I tell myself. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. I jump up, realizing I have to get out of the woods. "Oh..." I sigh as my stomach grumbles, scolding me for my inconsistent eating.

The kid hears. "I know where the food is."

My head snaps up at the sound of his voice and I remember everything. I breathe deeply. "Yeah, thanks. Sorry. Um. Yeah." I breathe.

"Hey, who's Adrian?"

Oh. My. God. "You... heard?"

"Yeah, well, you do speak quite loudly."

"He's a... a friend of mine."

"What kind of friend?" he asks. "Like the kind my uncle is to my aunt?"

Aunt.

"Uh, not really."

He goes out of the room for a while and returns with a glass of juice. Ah.

"Thanks."

Then I remember his "uncle"'s body was in the kitchen. I race out.

He's disappeared!

"What?" the boy says curiously, gazing up at me.

"N-nothing. Much." I sip the glass. Was he alive?! ?! ?!

"Listen... kid. I have to... go somewhere."

"Where? The station? Oh, and my name's not kid."

"What's your name then?"

"I can't tell, you have to tell me first."

Oh. Fine, make this a game.

"Nup."

"Hey, can I come with you? I don't really like my aunt and uncle anyway. Please?" he looks up at me with puppy eyes. (Literally puppy eyes)

I consider it. He has no one to live with. He could go wolf and join the wild ones in the woods. He could come with me. What harm could that do?

I look at him.

"Puh-leeeeeaaaaase?" he pleads.

I have a bad feeling about this.

"Fine." I say. "Fine."


	4. The Chocolate

Hello. I'm a bit slow at things.

By the way, none of the werewolf stuff has anything to do with Twilight. I just have a fondness for some particular animals. By the other way, the only part of Blood Promise I've read is the plot on Wikipedia, so the stories only vary around the first three books. Just to let you know.

Oh, and in an earlier chapter, I made a mistake about the dog years. It's 6-7 dog years in one human years, so this cub is quite old!

* * *

The kid is eager. He rushes to his room and changes. While he does this, I search around and find some soothing ointment and smooth it around my hands, dabbing a little around my cheeks.

It still hurts.

It still looks the same.

He reappears, wearing jeans and a red top with something like Spiderman featured on it. He grins at me.

I smile back, but uncertainly. I try to comb my hair with my hand. Not getting the result I expected, I added water. This also does not work.

I sigh.

"Kid?"

He frowned at his new name. "Whatty?" he said with annoyance.

"Let's go."

"'Kay." He grabs a bottle of what _seemed_ like water.

Nothing is as it seems anymore.

He gulps some down, looks at it, and decides to take it with him. "What's your name?" he whines.

I look at him. "Sarah," I say pathetically.

He looks back at me. "It's Rose, isn't it." He nods to himself. "I heard your boyfriend say." He adds triumphantly.

I stare at him.

"Why d'you want to come with me?" I ask, just for something to say.

"You're interesting."

"So are you," I say after a while.

We leave the house in silence. I suddenly remember the bodies outside and panic. "Stay in here for a sec, Kid."

"Why?" He follows me out.

Miraculously, the girl and the old man is not here. Just like the guy.

Speaking of the guy, I wonder why he didn't just change into a wolf and bite off his gag and stuff.

Well, what do you know. Anything could happen right now.

"Why?" He asks again.

I whip around. "No reason."

He is silent.

As we walk through the woods, I make a mental plan as to what to do:  
- Get out of the woods  
- Avoid people  
- Somehow get to the bank  
- Get money  
- Leave civilisation

- Find Dimitri  
- No, Find Dimitri's soul

"Kid?"

He turns to look at me.

"Do I look...?" What do I say? Ugly? Normal? Revolting? Presentable? "Do I look like a freak? Someone that everyone would either stare at or run away screaming?"

He has a cheeky smile on his face. "Oh yeah."

"No, seriously."

His face turns serious. "_I _didn't freak out."

"You stared, though." But he had a point.

He shrugs.

I had seen my own reflection, and I was pretty freaked out, but that was me.

So, we walk on in silence, with some animal calling or answering every now and then.

Every few minutes or so, the boy would go doggy and lope off somewhere but he'd always come back and he'd go human again.

One time, as he was 'morphing' again, I asked him, "Where're you going?"

He looked at me. He made two quick snaps with his mouth and licked his snout, showing some rather sharp fangs. He grinned as he turned to go.

I understood. Mealtime.

Speaking of (or thinking of) mealtime, I feel a faint rumble in my stomach. I swing my bag down and search through it. I take out a chocolate bar.

I rip off the wraps and start to devour it when the kid returns.

"Whasat?" he asks curiously during mid-morph.

"A chocolate bar," I answer during mid-chew.

"And what's a chocolate bar?"

I swallow. I realize he may have never come across one before.

"A bar of what's called chocolate," I tell him sarcastically.

"And what's chocolate?" he persists.

"Want some?" I smile.

He sniffs it suspiciously. "Yes, please."

I break some off and hand it to him.

He bites it and instantly regurgitates it. "Thlack!" he yells, running his fingers over his very long tongue, trying to scratch it off.

I stare at him in wonder. "Don't like it?"

"Taste's like toads' wart juice." He grimaces.

I laugh. He'd know. I plan to tell all my friends that when I get back to the Ac.

Suddenly, I feel faint, but the faintness only lasts a few seconds. Instead, a feeling of being watched comes over me, like there's a creature lurking around in my brain, looking through my brain notes.

I realize there is.

* * *

Wanted to tell readers:

Please review this chapter and give me a name for the cub. A name and a reason for the name, thanks!

And don't say Jacob.


	5. The Chase

PS. Thanks to all the contributions to names. (Two, actually, via review. Altogether, though, there were six.)

* * *

"Adrian?"

A voice laughs in my head. "How d'you know?" the voice asks.

I groan. "What're you doing in there?" I feel silly and stupid.

He snickers. "I figured I'm going to follow you."

"Don't you dare meddle, Adrian." I start to growl.

"I'm not going to stop you. I wouldn't do that. Just want to save your life when you most need me to!" He sounds hopeful.

"Can you go away, please?"

"Whoa, please? You just said, please? No way!" Adrian laughs. Then he turns serious. "Listen, I'm trying to do this thing where I travel to you."

I am suddenly listening. "What? Spirit travel? How's that work?"

"Let me show you."

And with that, the dizziness disappears and I am just standing there, chocolate in hand, with the little boy, but I still feel a presence in my head.

Adrian appears right in front of me, too close. I take a step back in surprise.

"I practised it on Lissa, wherever she went, and she suddenly realizes what I'm trying to do and she begs me to tell you that she misses you dearly." His eyes dance as he tells me. "Except, I can only see the animals and people – I can't get the surroundings."

He looks around and sees the boy. He jumps a little. He looks at me questioningly.

"Uh… Adrian, this is… Kid. Kid, this is my _friend,_ Adrian."

"Hey, Kid," Adrian says.

"M'name's not Kid," Kid complains. He folds his arms and walks up to Adrian. "So. You're the guy she's been dreaming about all the time."

Adrian laughs very hard. I flush very hard. "I do not dream about anyone!" and, seeing Adrian still going on, I say, "Adrian – you are forever banned from my head."

Adrian ceases his laughter. He raises his eyebrow. "You're in a forest, and there are trees," he announces, seemingly not to have heard me, "I… I got where you are. Great! This is great!" He finishes triumphantly.

"Adri---" I start to say.

He cuts me off with his eyes. They carry a knowing look; a mixture of acknowledgement and regret... "What?"

"Don't... I... Just... Why d'you even follow me, anyway? What... What're you trying to get from me?" I demand.

Silence follows my question.

He shrugs half-heartedly. "I care about you, that's all." And then, "That's all." He disappears from sight. And, out of sight, he is out of my mind.

The kid is left staring up at nothing. "Wow," he declares, "cool." His stomach grumbles for about the 23rd time today, even though he had gone to feed for several times. He looks at me, embarrassed.

I dismiss him. As he goes, I slump down on the dirt, leaning my back to a tree. I think about everything. Everything. Everyone. Dimitri, his soul, Adrian, Lissa, Christian, Eddie, Mia, Mason, my mum, my... dad...

*A short while later*

"Run," a half-human, half-wolf Kid gasps, running full-speed.

I stand frozen.

"Run!" he screams frantically, but in an excited, little boy voice. He goes wolf again.

I start to run to catch up to him. "What's going on?" I puff.

"I... I... killed some wolf... and... his pack's coming to chase me!" he tries to say, between breaths. His voice is really weird coming out of a snout.

"You're not serious," I say slowly as I take this in. I urge myself on.

"Am too!" he says defensively. He bolts forward as he hears a faint, low growl. I do, too.

We run on, not knowing where we're going. We could be heading right back where we started!

All of the sudden, I hear a voice inside my head. I puff so hard I cannot identify whose voice it is, but I only need to hear its urgency to know it's real.

_"Drop the chocolate. Drop it, Rose!"_

I realize with a drunk giggle I'm still holding the chocolate. I consider stuffing it back in my bag but I can hear feet. Lots of feet. I run.

_"DROP IT!"_

I drop it. Actually I don't. I throw it. I hurl it with all my might behind me.

*Adrian*

I locate the chocolate as fast as I can and land as quietly as possible. I smile in satisfaction. I even cheer quietly. I just jumped from a tree about 30 metres (around 100 feet) away and landed safely! You'd be surprised what else you can do with your spirit.  
I hear a noise. I strain to hear it. Feet. Soft on the leaves and twigs, softer than my boots.  
Several large wolves appear around 100 metres (330 ft) in front of me. My back faces the direction of the dynamic duo. I kick the half-eaten chocolate bar towards the pack and it dutifully hits one.  
The others skid to a stop and glare suspiciously either at me or the chocolate. Two of them look at me. The three of them wrestle about with the chocolate.  
I hear a growl. He must be the leader, I realize when the rest turn toward me.  
"Hi," I say, and lift a hand in greeting. "How do you do, I'm Adrian."  
One of the wolves howl - long and sharp. Probably to call all of his friends over.  
I spread my arms in front of me, as if I'm offering myself. "Hey, you can eat me all you want. If I die here, I'll just wake up on my bed on the other side of the world with beer bottles stuck in my ears."  
They don't seem to understand. They snap their jaws at me, in no particular rhythm. Just random snaps.  
A bird rustles by on top.  
Two of them are distracted, uttering low, guttural calls.  
Their leader takes a step forward and charges straight at me.  
I hold up my arms in preparation to block him.

*Rose*

"So, ah..." I am still running. After a few minutes, we're still running full-speed. I'll give my thanks to Dimitri and his training. "What's up?"

The Kid starts to slow down. He looks at me, confused. "Wha?"

I try to think of something to say.

"What's your name?"

"I'm not going to say."

"Why not?"

"You'll laugh."

"I won't."

"Is that a promise?" He glances sideways at me suspiciously.

"Nope."

Silence follows.

"M'name's Alpha."

I laugh very hard. Typical wolf name, I think. Alpha wolf. Alpha, the male leader.

"Well, your names Rose! Haha," he tries to laugh convincingly. He glances at me again. "Can you give me a name?" he asks shyly all of the sudden.

I think hard, while giggling about his name. I think of his incident with one of the wolves. Killed it, he said.

"Orion."

"What's that?" he asks, voice dripping with suspicion.

"Orion is a constellation of stars. He's a warrior, a hunter in the Greek myths." I look at him for his reaction. He doesn't have one. "Oh, come on. I'm sorry I laughed. I'll call you Ryan for short, since there ain't many people out there called Orion."

He reluctantly agrees.


	6. The Calls of the Wild

We figure a slow jog, through the woods, and I continually ask Ryan if he knows where we're going.

Every time, his answer is no, or not really with a shake of his head, but he also says "But I know we're heading out of the woods."

So I leave him to the navigation.

Once, when he is about to leave for a snap, I mean snack, I beg him not to go – I wouldn't know which way I'm running. He replies, "Yeah, well, I'm hungry. I'm human, too. I need to eat." And he lopes off.

I'm not very sure about the human part…

Anyway, when I ask him once more about the way we're travelling, he stops suddenly and starts forward again. "What is it?" I hiss urgently. "People," he says, "I smell people and... and... and... yuck stuff."

Yuck stuff?

"Then we're going the right way," I say, thinking of all the possible yuck stuffs he could be talking about. "Of course we're going the right way!" I yell randomly, more to myself in reassurance than to him. "Ryan," I say. When he doesn't answer, I wave my hand up and down the length of his face. "Ryan! Hello!" I call.

"Huh?" he is startled. I don't think he recognises his name. "Oh, right. Yeah?"

Hmph. "Your name _is _Ryan, right? Or do you want me to call you Alpha, or Alfie, or Al?" He glares at me. "Ryan will do," he pouts.

"So, Ryan," I continue from before, "can you identify the yuck stuff?"

"To be honest, no, but it's probably that stuff people stick into their mouths and inhale and stuff. And then smoke comes out of their... well, ears. Just joking. I meant their mouths. I've seen Uncle do it, and he said it was to stop him hurting..."

I glance both ways before saying, "Hmm. Okay. So-?"

"Hey, wouldn't it be funny if we went to the place you started at?" He interrupts.

"Well, no, it wouldn't be funny."

He starts laughing, but stopps when we come to a clearing. "Ha... ha?" He says. He sniffs around and morphs into a wolf. I follow him around the place, but thankfully, there's not a little brown cabin in sight. When I see a walking track, I stop and whisper to Ryan, "Hey, I think we're back in the 'city.' You wanna stay here while I go out to see?"

He shakes his head and goes back to the little human kid. "I'd rather come with ya." He looks around suspiciously again and nods to assure himself.

We trace the dirt trail and kick at the grass around us. The trail seems to go on and on. The dark day starts to grow darker; soon, the air is thick and musty and we can only see a few metres in front of us. Well, I can.

Sure enough, Ryan goes doggy again and uses his nose and ears to lead us out. Something scutters behind us. I whip around, but see nothing, and all I can hear is Ryan and his panting.

All of the sudden, he lets out an ear-piercing howl; it's sharp and long, and it goes all the way to the moon. Upon receiving no answer, he does it again, but this time, shorter. Silence follows.

A faint answer can be heard. I gasp. "This is just like the Call of the Wild!" I exclaim.

Ryan makes a noise that I can sort of identify as, "Shuttup!" And he talks to the other wolf again. After a while, I realize we have stopped and I put down my things. I plop down and lean against a tree trunk, staring at the boy in wonder. It's a few minutes before the conversation stops, and he plops down beside me, all human and all tired.

"What were you doing?" I ask after a brief silence.

"I don't really know," he answers, then looks at me sideways. He sees my expression and cracks up laughing. "I'm hehe just ha joking," he says. He looks at me again. "Jeez! Now you really look like a freak," he says, gesturing vaguely towards my face.

I get really angry. I mean, I get mad. I'm hungry, I'm almost dead, I'm looking for someone who's already dead - pardon me, I'm looking for his soul - and here I am, exchanging words with a talking dog who just called me a freak.

And it's true! I go truly crazy, suddenly mad with anger and fear and... and...

"**BEAR THE WRATH OF ROSE HATHAWAY!!!!!!!!!!**" I scream at him, arms akimbo.

He thinks I am joking until I raise my arm to take a swipe at him. I lunge forward and - -----------

I try to wrench my arm free, but someone or something is holding on to it. Someone strong. Stronger than me.

* * *

Author's note: Hello, readers! Or hello, thin air! I'd like you to please review and tell me which story (so far), Find and Kill, starring Rose and Ryan, or Stolen Souls, starring Janine, you like better, because I'm going to continue on with one until I finish it... And then do the other - because I am officially confusing myself!!! You know, with the woods and the wolves, you know? (Sorry, I like wolves) So if you could just review and say Find and Kill, or Stolen Souls or I don't really care (I hope you don't say that), then I can concentrate on one.  
And sorry it's going so slowly. P.S. If you didn't know, I have two stories. (I'm posted this message/note in my other story, too.)


	7. The Chapter with no name

Time seems to slow, so I have a bit of brain time. Almost instantly, I think, "Oh no - I'm dead." Then, "Who on Earth is stronger than me?" And then, "Dimitri('s soul.)"

I try to turn around and get out of the body lock this person has put me in (my right elbow near my right ear but my arm twisted the wrong way, etcetera), but the person is too strong. I grunt accidentally.

He laughs.

I can tell by the laugh it's not Dimitri nor Dimitri's soul, not that I know what a soul's voice would sound like. I can also conclude that it's not Adrian, and not a Strigoi, because they would've killed me by now.

So I'm not in immediate danger. Good.

I jerk forward and try to take him by surprise when I (try to) turn around. He tightens his grip around my wrists and jabs his knee at my back, further locking me. I stifle my scream. I bite my lower lip, forcing out, "Who's there?" in an extra cheery, extra sarcastic voice.

"Don't recognise me?" He has a low, very low, mocking voice.

"Hm. By the sound of your voice and the sight of your non-existent face, I can hereby identify you as -"

"Shut up!" he shouted. "Did I ask you to speak?"

"Well, when people ask questions, I assume they -"

"SHUT UP!" He pushes my back with his knee again.

My right collarbone protests loudly (_Crack_!) and burns with pain. This time, knowing he wanted to hear my pain, I moaned. Aren't I dead enough already?

Suddenly, I can feel his breath next to my cheek. "Hurt you, did I? That was for speaking the first time. And this-" he kicks my left shin, taking me by surprise, and with me ending up on my bum on the dirt, "was for speaking the second time." He lets go.

I try to stand up or scramble away, but my back is too sore and my right arm/collarbone is broken, plus, my shin is most likely fractured.

"What would you like for your third line of speech, honey?" He bends down, head bowed next my ear. "Oh, and I give you permission to speak." He laughs with satisfaction.

However, I don't speak. Big mistake.

"Cat got your tongue?" he roars angrily. He takes his huge, paw-like hand and swipes at my head. Feeling dizzy, I take the blow and fall, unconscious.

Before darkness engulfs me, though, I hear him say, "Bundle her up, boys."

* * *

Sorry it was a bit short.

Questions to be answered via Review:

1. Who's that guy? I've already got a slight idea... but it's quite lame, so any ideas?  
2. Is Ryan good or bad? Good=he's also bundled up, Bad=he's one of the "boys."

Please answer! If I don't have answers, I obviously can't write the next chapter, so! There's the bait, so take it!

The Goddaughter


	8. The Cats

When I wake up, I am blindfolded, gagged, and bound up. At least, I think I am gagged.

My tongue is tied to something.

The air is foul tasting, my tongue dry yet dripping with saliva. Oh my god; I am dribbling!

But soon, that becomes the least of my worries.

I stifle my panic, and my breathing starts to feel normal.

"Awake?" comes a growl.

Should I answer? Should I answer?

"Awake?" he says again, louder.

"Nthl." I manage.

"Cat got your tongue," he laughs, a dry, evil sound. He pauses. "Wanna see?"

"Nthl," I say again, trying to nod my head.

The cloth around my heads and digging into my eyes is roughly removed. Like a small child watching a horror movie, I squeeze my eyes shut as the firelight blinds me. My face stings. Stupid werewolf thing.

"Open them," he commands, whacking me on my shoulder. I feel it, but my arm has no feeling. Weird.

I open my eyes. The first thing I see is a thin rope coming from under my nose (my mouth) leading to a cage with a small dog in it. _Dog _got my tongue.

"Cat, idiot."

I try to turn around, but my body has lost all sense.

"You move, dog dies. See that?" a hairy finger points at the cage. "That knife? Dead. Hopeless, you. Can't do nothing no more."

_Really?_ I think.

"Unh-yuh. Really. Too bad for you-ser and loser over there." I hear him shifting. My tongue aches with pain and throbs with a persistent pulse. My throat is dry. I try to swallow.

He pushes my shoulderblades and my body falls forward, head to the ground. My tongue is pulled. How does the rope stay on my tongue?

"Cat got your tongue."

He's a cat. My back stiff, I force my head upwards and see a few giant cats, prowling around. Some are like snow leopards, some more lion-like, some tigers. Where is he?

"Cat's here. Right here."

I see a paw before the world turns to abyss once more.

* * *

Dog. Dog. Cat. Cat. Me. Dog. Dog. Cat. Cat. Me.

RYAN!

I bolt awake, forgetting the cage and the dog in it. I jerk my body up into a sitting position and suddenly, the rope on my limp, dead tongue goes loose. A clang in front of me seems to vibrate inside my head. Ryan!

There is nothing, no one, in that cage. Ryan?

"Cat lost your tongue?"

What?

"Cat lost your tongue, Flower?"

Who was that? It wasn't him. It was someone different. I try to turn around, but my arms are tied to something. "Thoo? Thoo arkkk toooo?" Tears well up in my eyes. I can't speak.

"Me, I'm Tom. Like a... Tomcat. Tom? You, flower. You are Flower." I can hear him smirk. His voice is soft, lilting, gentle, yet a trace of evil lines his tone...

I am _Rose,_ I think to him. Hear me! I am ROSE! ROZA! ROSEMARY ROSE!

"You are Flower. I am Tom. That too hard?" He laughs, a sound of magic and music.

Come here. I can't see you. Who are you?

He shuffles forward. A huge, sleek, black cat passes in front of me, a large, cheeky smile on his face. His tail curls upwards. He smiles widely, showing fang-like teeth.

"Fangs, yeah. I'm a cat, ex-vampire. Know them much?"

I'm a dhampir, I think sadly. I was going to be a guardian.

He isn't surprised. "I was a vampire. Won't tell you what kind. I like cats better than vampires. Didn't like the taste of blood. I like mice better," he jokes, whiskers twitching. Huge, watery, pale-emeraldy-green eyes blink at me. He sits contentedly.

Well, he doesn't exactly _purr,_ but I can tell he's content. He starts to groom himself.

"Where's Ryan?" I say, surprised at my own voice. I lick my lips repeatedly.

"Umm, ah, the doggie? They took him. Cats don't like dogs. You know that."

"Where?" I ask, alarmed. "He... I... He's my friend."

"He's probably for lunch today. For the boss' lunch. We don't get lunch. We only get dinner. You're lucky if you're dinner tonight. Stop your suffering, you know?" He nods at me while cleaning his face.

"Me, dinner." I scoff.

"Snot like you can go anywhere." He stands up, walks a few steps and goes up on his hind legs. I watch, unflinching and unsurprised, as he switches to vampire form.

I shake my head slowly. His back faces me. I wouldn't be surprised if some birds fly down and change to humans or vampires or if God suddenly descends and tells me, "Hi."

He turns around.

Oh, my god.

It's a guy I've seen before.

You know, one of those guys from before.

One of those guys I killed who were Strigoi. At the Academy. I remember all of them. They stay around in my head, laughing at me.

How? I don't... I don't understand.

How did he do that?


	9. The Catch of the Day

AN: As you can see, I like talking animals. If you don't like talking animals, this may not be the story for you. Oh well! Keep reading anyway! And I'd like some feedback, please. Anything. Good, bad, indifferent; just some criticism and comment so I have a purpose.

* * *

Tom looks at me, head cocked to one side, his great flop of jet black hair hanging matted and thick. "How did I do what? Change? Morph?"

"N...no. Noooooo, no way. You _didn't_ just do that."

He approaches me, eyes glowing. He smiles, baring his sharp fangs. "What?" He says innocently.

I grope around for my stake. "Stop. Stop where you are!" I pause. "You're not even Strigoi anymore."

He stops, but only after a few steps. He sniffs. "Why should I not drink your blood, huh? You _stabbed_ me." He says indignantly.

"I was defending myself." I shake my head. My stake is not here. Someone took my stake. "Who took my stake?" I shout. I even consider shaking my fist, but that will just look plain stupid.

A leopard-looking creature to my right stands up and approaches. Tom dismisses him with a wave.

I stand up as well as I can. I think my back is broken. "Who took my stake? And my knife, my... who took my puffer?"

"Who _wouldn't_ take your weapons, Flower?" Tom says reasonably. "We wouldn't risk leaving sharp things with our dinner. What if we get poked?" The felines around us guffaw.

I look around. "Ryan?" I call, keeping my desperation at bay. Nothing. No whimper, no growl, not even a conspirational snicker. "Look. Tom. I gotta go somewhere, you know? I have an appointment with the devil. I know you're a good guy, 'cause you didn't hit me like that boss of yours. So. You just gotta let me go. And tell me where Ryan is. The dog, you know?" I am taking a huge risk. I know he's not going to just let me go. He knows I'm a threat. But against several tens of tigers, leopards and giant cats? I don't see any lions yet, but nor do I see any other way out.

I can't run, I can't fly, and my ankle's sprained. My back is possibly broken. One of my collarbones have probably snapped, and my head hurts like the Apocalypse hurts the future. But, I have a motive. I have to find Dimitri. Excuse me, I mean his soul. It's basically an appointment with the devil. Dimitri's hard to beat. Dimitri as a Strigoi is impossible to beat.

I'm going to prove myself wrong.

But first, I'm going to get out of this cat-camp.

Tom laughs. It's not an evil laugh, but it sounds less like magic and music, now. More like... a metal cello. Nevermind. Tom laughs again. "Flower's gone crazy. Flower, I'm not gonna let you go. Little miss Fragile Flower. Now that I've plucked you from your earthly home, you're staying with me." He walks towards me, fangs gleaming in the sunset. "Game over, rover."

"Tom?" I say, confident. "How come you're not dead? I killed you, right? I stabbed you? So how did you turn from Strigoi to a cat? I mean, your eyes aren't exactly red anymore."

"You can't save him." he says simply.

What? "What do you mean? _Who _do you mean?"

"You_ know,_ Flower."

"Okay, fine. Why not?"

"He's lost himself to his Strigoi half. He's a weak guy. He's got no hope. You can kill him easily."

"What are you talking about?" I say coldly. He's a _god._

"He doesn't _want_ to turn back. I wanted to. I had a will, when you killed me. I wanted to live again. I fought my Strigoi half, and I won, when I died. So I'm alive again."

"You've lost me."

"And so has he."

"No, I mean - " I stop.

Tom smirks. "When he dies, he's not going to fight. He'll give up. He's lost himself already. When you're Strigoi, it's like someone's got hold of you, someone evil. An evil you. You're fighting yourself, and that's why it's hard. Whatever fuel you've got, the evil you has it, too. He can't be _bothered, _Flower. Your... your Dimitri doesn't want to live."

"What." I whisper. I stare at the ground, not thinking. Not even trying to gather my thoughts. "What." I had always wondered what being Strigoi was like. I had always wondered, why do they have to be bad? Don't they have any control over themselves? "What." I whisper once more. A tear I did not notice forming drops onto the ground, betraying me.

Tom smirks again. "I'm not a good guy, Flower. I'm evil. I didn't hit you 'cause I don't want to bruise my dinner. Hear that? You're the catch of the day, and I'm going to _eat _you."

I look up at him, my eyes and facial expression (I hope) hard.

He looks as if he wishes he hadn't said that.

Somewhere, far away, a blonde, tear-streaked, Moroi princess wishes her lost, best friend to be well, and extra well. "I hope this works, Rose. I know that wherever you are, you're going to need this." She falls back onto her bed in exhaustion. Before she falls asleep, she vows to herself to keep her friend alive, if she isn't dead yet.


End file.
